1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to table management. Specifically, the embodiments of the invention relate to a method and system for reorganizing tables to group redundant field values in columns and store and apply default column grouping customizations.
2. Background
Tables are utilized in a large number of different applications. The applications include spreadsheet applications such as EXCEL® by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., supply chain management applications such as SCM by SAP AG of Waldorf, Germany, database applications such as MySQL by MySQL AB of Uppsala, Sweden and similar applications. These applications access stored data, draw a table, and insert the data into the table.
Tables are organizations of data as entries or records. Each entry or record includes a set of fields that are common amongst the entries. The entries can be displayed in rows and columns where each row corresponds to an entry and each column to a field of the entry. Often values in the fields of different entries are identical. Organizing entries with identical values in a given field can help the user establish relationships between the entries and identify information about the data set as a whole. The relationships between the entries can constitute a hierarchy of information within the table.
Some applications provide a grouping functionality to assist a user in understanding the data presented in a flat table. The grouping function is programmed and incorporated into the application by the application developer. The grouping function iterates through a selected column of a table and merges fields with identical values. The entries are reordered to be consistent with the resulting groupings. When the application is closed or a window containing the table is closed the grouping is lost and must be recreated by user direction upon a subsequent opening of the data.